Definition
Dopamine is an organic compound found in most animals and some plants. It is an amine of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. Dopamine functions as a chemical messenger, most notably as a neurotransmitter in the brain.
Introduction
Dopamine is one of the most highly studied neurotransmitters, and the dopamine system is an important neuromodulatory system in the brain. Dopamine neurons are primarily concentrated in the brain in the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area. These neurons mainly project to other areas of the basal ganglia, particularly the striatum, but also have strong projections to prefrontal cortex and projections through many other cortical and subcortical areas.
Dopamine has been variously implicated in a number of different cognitive abilities and functions such as decision-making, exploratory behavior, motivation,...
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Blanco, N.J. (2017). Dopamine. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_744-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_744-1
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